Happy National Scrapbook Day! {Glassine Sack Tag Album, 50th Birthday Party Decor}

Hi friends, and Happy (inter)National Scrapbook Day to you!  Today I'm sharing with you a good reason to scrapbook - to honor someone you love.  I put together this mini album for my husband's recent HUGE milestone birthday!  It was really easy and the result was worth a million bucks.

 Simply gather a bunch of glassine bags or whatever bags you have on hand.  Need some?  Check here in my Etsy shop.
Staple them together at the bottom.
Wrap the stapled end with a piece of cardstock.  Mine is Marina Mist, embossed, and embellished with an Antique Brad & circle punch of Champagne Glimmer paper.
Wrap each bag with coordinating pattern papers.  Mine is Nautical Expedition (retired SU).  This gives the album a little body and color.
Add a little stamped embellishment to the front.  I used The Open Sea.
Now your base is done, time to fill it with memories!
I used the Two Tags die, measured the usable space, and typed up the replies on the computer. Then I cut them out and die cut each with the Big Shot.

Since it was my hubby's big giant birthday (I happen to be a LOT younger than him LOL, but I'm catching up fast), I wanted to fill it with messages of appreciation from people all throughout his life.  FACEBOOK, here I came!  I sent a group message to everyone that I thought has been touched in some way by his being around.  Childhood best friend, coworkers from 25 years ago, family, neighbors, church friends.  It was really easy once I got started.  Then the messages started rolling in, by Facebook message, text, and phone.  And it was WONDERFUL!   I was so blessed by the memories I received on his behalf.  It was very sweet to read what others had to share, and I was surprised by the heartfelt responses, especially from the guys in our lives.  But the real impact was when he read the messages.  I gave him the book the night before his birthday, and he took it to bed to read.  He laughed.  He got quiet.  And he smiled.

And this is why you have to scrapbook.

I also threw him a surprise party, and I wanted to share some of the decorations with you.  I scoured the web and Pinterest when planning his party and ended up coming up with all the ideas on my own.  First up was the banner for the cake table...

It's made of hand cut banner pieces, and LOTS of squares of Silver Glimmer Paper.  I scanned snapshots of many of the big moments in his life - childhood, grandparents, high school, our wedding, our first son, second son, and our business grand opening were some of the big ones.

Here's the hall, all gussied up!  I didn't want to do all black, I'm just very much not into the over the hill stuff :)

C. is a collector of antique clocks, so I started swiping clocks from the house earlier in the week. I set one as a centerpiece on each table, added confetti & balloons, and glue dotted a "time" quote to the face of each clock.  Lines like, "time flies when you're having fun",  "everything is better with time", etc.  It was so very HIM, and he loved it too.

  

Finally, some quickie decorations for the food table.  Jars of candy with coffee stirrers embellished with banners, pinwheels, and big fat rhinestones.  

I hope you enjoyed my birthday ideas, and hopefully you'll be able to bless somebody's life with a scrapbook, or honor them in some way with your crafty skills.  I'm going to try to pop back in later with a layout for NSD :)  Till then, have a blessed and creative day!  ~ Erika